Life with cats, and other things…
Hudson River, Stillwater, NY 8th May 2023 With political problems becoming ever more complicated in 1962, after six years in South East Asia, my parents sent me to boarding school back in England. How they selected a school run by Catholic nuns, I'm not sure but that is where I spent the next two years. … Continue reading School days
6th May 2023 It took a while, but I've found the answer. Jaundice, I'd decided. I must have jaundice to be seeing such a yellow world. No. It's all those dandelions. The world is yellow. . When they turn to seed, the world will be white again. God help anyone who is allergic. There have … Continue reading Why?
1848/22nd September 2022 Good memories and bad , in my experience anyway, are often intertwined. It had never occurred to me until this morning. We have one of those fine Fall days of scattered cloud and warm sunny intervals with just the hint of a chill in the blustery wind. A perfect day to attend … Continue reading Home?
Out looking at fresh snow Boxing Day 2020 Not knowing quite how to spend the the hours, yesterday, I thought back to a long-ago Christmas and decided to write about it. This is how it turned out: Toward the end of 1959, my father got word of a new posting from his employer, UNESCO. At … Continue reading A Christmas story
Thanks for the long road I have travelled It may seem a little strange, but I am thankful to have been born in 1948. WW2 had been over, almost 3 years when I was born. But we lived in London till I was 8 and the wreckage was still very evident when I was a … Continue reading Tuesday thanks
Ta Phrom, Angkor, Cambodia For something different, today I decided to post some of my dad's photographs and a short extract from my memoir of Angkor. Giant treesNandi, The BullThe Bayon 12th CenturyOne of the gates to Angkor Thom It was so still, there among the giant trees that were consuming the ruins of Angkor. … Continue reading Treasured memory
After dark, the sea grew angry, boiling and raging and tearing at the beach as if it was trying to drag us into the turmoil. The fishermen wanted my mother and I to get into their small boat, to sail around the island searching for my father who had not returned after many hours, from … Continue reading “Day” trip
Mater Dei, Kep, Cambodia 1961 My friend Sabrina's father was still posted in Phnom Penh, and had discovered the existence of a Catholic boarding school for the children of wealthy Khmer and Westerners working in Cambodia. It seemed like the perfect place for his daughter and he agreed to be responsible for me as my … Continue reading Mater Dei
Royal Palace, Phnom Penh, c1956 September 30th will mark one year since my precipitous move from Washington State. With 13 cats in tow, it was never going to be easy but I did not envision quite as many projects once I arrived. Not that I disliked or wished to change anything about my "internet house". … Continue reading Re-visiting Cambodia